A bygone English chariot parked at a bygone Art Deco service station in a light industrial area.

Hi Walter,

I remember those well; they stick in my mind as being early examples of silver paint, though I might just as easily be confused. Confused, as I also recall early pissing contests between twelve-year-olds too, where gravity played no apparent part in the proceedings. Must be all in the mind, if not on the top of the head...

And yes, this was from the famous "356" series. The Carrera was Porsche's top of the line model at the time (the speedometer read up to 160 MPH or 260 KPH), and this one had been used exclusively for racing about 10,000 miles. By then the engine was shot and someone replaced it with a Porsche Super engine which for a year or two had roller bearings instead of plain bearings. My brother and I bought it with the Super engine and enjoyed it for a while until the bearings burnt out. My repair guy had a VW engine available which he plugged in as a loaner to keep me driving until he could replace the Porsche bearings.

This was during the winter, and it was soon enough after Porsche split off from Volkswagen that the VW engine just popped right in and everything connected perfectly --- except the heater ducts. So I went that winter without heat in a Porsche with a VW engine and no heater.

One of my finest moments in that car was when I was waiting at a red traffic light when a Triumph came roaring up behind me, sounding as if he wanted to drag. As soon as he got close enough to read "Carrera" he calmed down and became very sedate, never realizing how slow my zero-to-sixty time would have been.

And yes, this was from the famous "356" series. The Carrera was Porsche's top of the line model at the time (the speedometer read up to 160 MPH or 260 KPH), and this one had been used exclusively for racing about 10,000 miles. By then the engine was shot and someone replaced it with a Porsche Super engine which for a year or two had roller bearings instead of plain bearings. My brother and I bought it with the Super engine and enjoyed it for a while until the bearings burnt out. My repair guy had a VW engine available which he plugged in as a loaner to keep me driving until he could replace the Porsche bearings.

This was during the winter, and it was soon enough after Porsche split off from Volkswagen that the VW engine just popped right in and everything connected perfectly --- except the heater ducts. So I went that winter without heat in a Porsche with a VW engine and no heater.

One of my finest moments in that car was when I was waiting at a red traffic light when a Triumph came roaring up behind me, sounding as if he wanted to drag. As soon as he got close enough to read "Carrera" he calmed down and became very sedate, never realizing how slow my zero-to-sixty time would have been.

Ah, the good old days!

That is a wonderful introduction to the mind arts of the photographic firmament!

I have fond "young man" memories of VW's, one of them was the reliability. I can't ever remember breaking down in one. And the smell of a Beetle's interior- why do they all smell the same? Maybe it was the stuffing they used in the seats, who knows.

After lusting after the " SO CAL" look of the Beetles with dropped suspensions as seen in the imported US magazines I eventualy got one of them, a 1969 model but sporting a 2.1L liquid cooled flat four from the Microbus line. I eventualy fitted it with two 38IDA Webers and scared the crap out of the local hot shots in their Golf GTI's.

I have fond "young man" memories of VW's, one of them was the reliability. I can't ever remember breaking down in one. And the smell of a Beetle's interior- why do they all smell the same? Maybe it was the stuffing they used in the seats, who knows.

After lusting after the " SO CAL" look of the Beetles with dropped suspensions as seen in the imported US magazines I eventualy got one of them, a 1969 model but sporting a 2.1L liquid cooled flat four from the Microbus line. I eventualy fitted it with two 38IDA Webers and scared the crap out of the local hot shots in their Golf GTI's.

But then I grew up and bought a 4x4.

That was your big mistake: you should have bought a Hasselblad and moved to SoCal instead. And so should I, but probably wouldn't have been allowed in.

I know this Volkswagon is at least 20 yeas old but have no clue as to year or model. Wish I could have gotten better shots, but he was dodging seagull poop and there were lots of objects between him and the camera...surely someone out there knows this car.

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